Intel launches server processors for mission-critical datacentres

Intel Xeon E7 processors deliver up to 40 per cent more performance than their predecessors

Chip giant Intel today launched server processors aimed at mission-critical public and private cloud datacentres that are touted to deliver up to 40 per cent greater performance than the previous Intel Xeon 7500 series processor generation they replace.

The Intel Xeon E7 processor architecture will consist of three families - the E7-8800, E7-4800 and E7-2800 - all manufactured using Intel's 32nm process technology.

Intel cloud services director Richard George said, "This architecture will have up to 10 cores, 20 threads, 30MB of cache, and be able to address double the amount of system memory than before - up to 2TB of DDR3 system memory.

"This will be important for firms scaling up their servers, but also for firms running large databases and with virtualised environments.

"If you bought 18 racks of servers in 2006, you could now replace this with a single rack populated with servers with these chips, and get an 18 per cent performance increase, with a 93 per cent reduction in energy costs."

George pointed out that firms based in London's Canary Wharf that "will not being able to get an extra watt of power into their buildings until after the Olympics" could get a performance increase with power consumption savings by deploying servers based on this processor architecture.

The processors will be available at three capability levels - advanced, standard and basic - featuring 10, eight and six processor cores respectively.

George also said that the new processors would have Intel's Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (AES-NI) technology built in.

"We've been shipping this in the desktop client products for some time now and we're bringing it to the E7 family. With desktop systems, firms were encrypting the hard drives, whereas with E7 systems firms will likely be encrypting their databases using this feature," said George.

Intel has improved system reliability by porting its Double Device Data Correction (DDDC) technology, launched in its Itanium server line last year, to improve system stability when memory chips fail.

George also said that the processors could, for a short space of time, "go beyond the thermal design envelope, and overclock themselves from 2.4GHz to 2.6GHz".

"If you had a single threaded application - and there are still unfortunately a few of those around - you will get a benefit. Upgrading from Windows 2003 Server - whose threading capabilities are not awesome - to a multi-threaded OS like Windows Server 2008 would also give you a performance improvement," added George.

Intel expects more than 35 systems based on the new architecture to ship from system vendors today.

Intel will today also launch a Xeon E3 processor architecture based on its Sandy Bridge processor architecture, targeted at entry-level servers and workstations, incorporating Intel's HD graphics, and a 6Gbit/s SATA interconnect.